Stormy weather caused a signalling fault in the Romford area resulting in delays for thousands of passengers.

Disruption to the Abellio Greater Anglia routes between Romford and London Liverpool Street continued throughout the morning, with residuals delays remaining even after “normal working” was restored at 10.15am.

The rail operator said the Romford to Upminster service would not resume until 12.11pm.

Delayed passengers voiced their anger on Twitter.

Dara Islam (@Dara18RLC) wrote: “@greateranglia at Goodmayes! Your online info wholly misleading! There is no 45min delay! Waiting well over an hour. When’s the next train?”

Maggie Byrne (‏@K3y8oardW4rr10r) said: “Waited over an hour and a half at the station without any explaination, great job @greateranglia”

Some were scathing.

Andrew (@CrazyGoat1) tweeted: “@greateranglia Yet your platform screens and app still say everything is as normal. Your company has gone beyond the realms of incompetence”

And Emma Akbareian (@emmaak) wrote: “Finally on a train from Brentwood 1hr10 mins after I arrived at the station with zero communication from @greateranglia #commuterproblems”

Though not everyone was so critical of the operator, which runs services across east London and Essex.

A spokesperson for Abellio Greater Anglia said: “Owing to infrastructure problems caused by lightning strikes at a number of different locations, Abellio Greater Anglia train services are being disrupted on all routes to and from London Liverpool Street.

They added: “A signalling fault in the Romford area caused by lightning strikes earlier was causing disruption to all trains through this area and delays are expected at least until 11.00. The Romford to Upminster service is expected to resume with the 12.11 Romford to Upminster.”

The operator said tickets were being accepted on other reasonable routes.

“We are sorry that your travel plans will be severely affected by this widespread disruption and thank you for your patience,” they added.

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